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The OFFICIAL Chiefs Crowd Retraction Thread!

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We've all done it; analyzed a Player, Coach, GM or Team based on genuine evidence minus the Homerism. We stood proudly and strongly behind our theory, self-assured that we we're 100% right.
And then, reality get's a different idea and we fall flat on our faces. We are confused and embarrassed by our lack of prognostication prowess, and we KNOW that someone is going to bring our failure back to light for all to see.

Thus, I am instituting The Official Chiefs Crowd Retraction Thread in an effort to let all Forum Members retain their Dignity when predictions go wrong.
The Retraction Thread is your Companion, Comforter, and Confessor in these most troubled of times in Chiefs History.
Simply re-post your initial commentary followed by your Sincere Retraction, and All Will Be Forgiven AND Forgotten.

Since I am the creator of this thread, I will go first.
I wrote these observations after the Denver game at my old forum, and as you will see; I tanked it Big Time.

Q: Do you feel a weight has been lifted off your shoulders with this win? Do you sleep better?

EDWARDS: “I kept asking my wife in bed about 1 o’clock, ‘we won right, honey?’ And she said, ‘yeah, we won honey.’

“I just feel for everybody: for the players, the organization, for our fans. I mean, our fans…that game felt like Arrowhead. You could just… It was different. The energy the fans brought the players felt. I think the young guys needed to feel that. They hadn’t felt that and for them it was electric. It was Arrowhead, the fans, everyone involved in the game. Now, you feel you can move on. We don’t have to worry about that any more. We can just concentrate on the game.”

MY INITIAL RESPONSE:

Okay; Herm's "Cool Factor" went up considerably with me today during this part of "Herman's Sermon" on 810( where Petro and Kietzman can BOTH kiss my ***, for today at least ).

Now normally, Herm is kind of hard to gauge on the old "Emotion Meter". As I posted yesterday, he's the pragmatic technician type. But as I listened to him recount a bit of his past, and explain what the game meant to ALL involved( the players and the fans etc. ), the first little bit of light began to dawn. And now, several hours later; I've finally figured it out. I know EXACTLY what is going here, and what is going on in Herm's head.

Let me say first though, that for the fans to come out to that game, and in better numbers than the LAST outing is a pretty major testament to the loyalty and fortitude of the Chiefs Nation. And that's all that was left; hope did NOT play a factor for the majority of us.
So pat yourselves on the back a little because Herm is dead-on when he said that the team( who are mostly very young if not new )needed to have that "Electric Arrowhead Experience", and sooner rather than later. That **** is a drug, and the sooner those kids get addicted to it the better. These guys really, REALLY need us to be there with our asses in the seats and making some noise, even on the bad days. It...Is...Crucial right now, so make it happen.

Now, back to Herm. This is the answer to the Great Head Scratching Mystery:

Herman Edwards is a Coach.

Not a play caller, not a crunch-time strategist, not a manager, not a coordinator, and not a motivator in the conventional sense of the word. Sometimes the answers were already there before you asked the questions. Stick with me on this.

A few days ago, I posted a comment that went roughly like this: "I'd rather see my old Jr. High/High School Coach from Oklahoma running the show; he wasn't a yeller and in fact he rarely said more than a few words. But he always found a way to make his guys play for him".

THAT is what Herm embodies, and THAT is what he striving for. He want's his players to find the right answers for themselves, and how you make that happen is a very crafty, subtle, and RARE skill that few possess. Will it pan out? Only time will tell.

But what is the overall strategy you ask? What has looked at times like a miasma cluster**** from hell, are the coaches and coords trying to get a definitive idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each guy under real-time, playing for real, regular season pressure. Brodie's injury threw a major wrench in this, and it's the reason any signs of consistent improvement on offense have been long in coming.

Setbacks aside, the overall plan is brilliant in it's simplicity; they're baby-stepping this team.
It's the same principal as weightlifting; Each idividual may be able to put up more weight( juice) than the guy next to him, but you want your whole team to be able to put another 2.5 lbs on each side of the bar every week. If you crave instant Chiefs Domination on a consistent basis, you're **** out of luck, friend. But if you truly desire with every ounce of your Red and Gold Blood to one day a claim a powerhouse, Championship Level Franchise; it's the only way to fly.
If I'm right, it's going to be a slow and almost imperceptible process. And make no mistake; there ARE some personnel issues that have yet to be decided. But the end-result is that if done right, this team will eventually be a Machine on the level of something most of have never seen before in Kansas City; a perfect, almost ESP-like communication between every one on the field, and flawless execution.

Basically, the three games leading up to Denver and then the final and long overdue victory, were a highly condensed and sloppy example of the overall total result they're trying to make happen. They had to push things more than they probably wanted to, but we needed that win badly and the whole crew stepped-up and made it happen.

If my old prognosticator is firing positive, things are a hell of a lot more interesting and not as bad as we may sometimes think.

I just hope this past week was a glimpse of Herm making a better gameplan and adjusting to situations rather than abberation.

If we can make it out of Carolina or against Tennessee with one win I will be even more impressed.

But as of now I am still wanting to look at replacements for Herm this next offseason but I will always be glad that Herm came along and turned this teams attention back to the draft and finally got them to understand the importance of grooming our own QB. I hope our next coach will share these traits as I assume they will considering that Clark Hunt has said that this is how the team will be ran from now on and I hope it is the truth.

MY REPLY:

I DO love love to win, make no mistake. Knowing what I know now, I'm confident this season will not be a repeat of last year. That game against Denver just dripped vintage Arrowhead Juice. I honestly believe now that if Herm sticks to doing what Herm needs to do, we don't need a new coach. We might need a new D Coord and better squad coaches, and a myriad of other things, but I get where Herm is coming from and I tell you now; that kind of focal-point at the top is HARD to come by.

And here's the thing; his brand of leadership is almost invisible to you and I as fans. There are no wild Denny Greene outbursts and no major drama, but what happens when the cameras are off is exactly what we need right now. It's almost a "Sheppard"-like way of coaching. We're so used to these field-general types; the big, loud, and brash kind of guys being at the helm of the Champions, we've forgotten that there ARE other ways to do this!

For all you Stram-Lovers out there, stop and remember for a moment what your favorite qualities, aside from the obvious Super Bowl winner, make that guy stay in your soul. Dignity and Intelligence perhaps? Now Stram was a natural when it came to feeding the press. Herm? Not so much. But that's okay; he likes to hold the cards close to the vest. And for what we're doing now; it's the right thing. It's not a lack of respect or ambivalence towards us, it's keeping your **** under wraps and being a good chess player.

Look; if the Denver game had been another disaster, there would be no rhyme or reason for what I'm saying. But that game WASN'T luck, and we both know it. That game was "letting the dogs out"! It was a dire need for a win at home, and they played their hand a little more obviously than they probably wanted to. The passion and drive were there in spades. The execution? Not so much. But rest assured; that aspect will look 100-times better by December.

Since you mentioned Clark, here's another speculation regarding the overall direction of this team:

I believe Clark has removed the "Gentleman's Gloves" that his father so prized. Because of all that vintage Raider mess, and because of his distaste for Al Davis, there was an unspoken rule that the Chiefs must play straight and completely legitimate, by the rule book football. I think Clark has removed that, and replaced it with a "Give Back What You Take From Your Opponent"-type philosophy.

RESPONSE FROM A DIFFRENT MEMBER:

to me herm is one of the few coaches with the stomach to play all these young guys

Hank worked press conferences the way parcells did only hank wasn't an *** towards reporters like parcells
During Hank's time there was the chip on the shoulder of afl vs nfl
so team self promotion was important
Hank was perfect for that time period
of course having lenny dawson makes any coach better

as far as herm goes the stupid sarcastic type questions at the ny press conferences i thought he handled well
others would have been spewing f bombs on some of those reporters

Art...likewise...Herm has never impressed me that he is "brilliant" or that he "has all the answers"....but most NFL coaches very seldom have the "full package" today. Coaching has evolved a great deal from the days of Lombardi and Landry...

Bill Walsh seems the be the exception, although I have to say that Bellichick has to be considered....

My take is that Herm Edwards is a "grinder"....he has plenty of weaknesses and he does his best to deal with them by hiring the best guys he can find. I think he kind had to keep Solari when he first arrived, I think he had a choice about Gun and decided to keep him....of course, he forced Gun to take a bunch of new assistants...

I think Herm gets my vote because the players respect him and they work hard to play for the guy. I also think that he is VERY good at evaluating NFL talent.
AND FINALLY, MY LAST RESPONSE:

Thanks West.

To you and everybody else who posted on this topic, there is definitely more going on right now than what we're seeing. I think a lot of people view "Game Plan" and "Strategy" as the same thing; they're not. Game Plan is a week to week affair, and Strategy is your overall vision. Our strategy is a long-term one.

And when you remember that we ALL more or less accepted that the Chiefs were on an uphill climb, and that it would take a minimum of two seasons to really bring it together, this approach we're taking has a HUGE chance of being successful.

And I truly believe now that the end result will wow a lot of people in the national sports press who will then have NO CHOICE but step up and RECOGNIZE!

Heh, I'll bet there's no such thing as any NFL coach who isn't married. Just like Presidents of the United States. Although James Buchanan was the one president without a wife. But that sure wouldn't be possible today.